The Spartans take on Saginaw Valley State in their first exhibition game at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Breslin Center.

Freshman guard Branndais Agee, who broke her foot, is still recovering, and freshman guard Aerial Powers tore her Achilles tendon during practice on Friday, which has led to an interesting fall for Merchant.

“We’re pretty beat up,” Merchant said. “Branndais had a pin put in her foot since the first day of practice. We’ve got (sophomore center Madison Williams) issues. (Sophomore forward) Becca (Mills) is coming off surgery, and (junior forward) Annalise (Pickrel) is coming off surgery.”

Merchant said the injury to Powers happened during a free throw and that she didn’t see much movement, but Powers just fell down.

Someone else has to step up to fill the void, and Merchant said she is going deeper down the bench.

“We’re getting into walk-ons now,” she said. “We’ve got walk-ons that are going to have to step up and play.”

She also said that senior guard Tracy Nogle is going to have a bigger role than she’s used to.

“I talked to her today about it,” she said. “‘You’re going to have to play. And play probably significant minutes.’ I’m trying to do the best I can, but at the same time, we’re really down with guard play; it’s an opportunity for other people to step up.”

Williams left practice to go see the doctor, and Merchant said the injuries really are starting to affect the way her lineup is shaking up.

“I had one, and then people walked out of here having to go see the doctor, so I don’t even know right now what that means,” she said. “I thought she would get to get minutes, but now I’m not even sure she’s going to play.”

She added that Williams might not play in the season opener and was waiting for the results from her medical visit.

Still, junior guard Klarissa Bell said despite all the injuries, it’s going to be good to get back on the court and face another team.

“We’re out here beating each other up and beating the scout boys up, so I’m really excited to go out there and play against Saginaw Valley,” Bell said. “We really just have to have our competitive spirits up and our energy up every day.”

She said the team has been through the injury bug before, so it has experience dealing with the roster moves.

“Like Coach Merchant keeps saying, we’re going to get Branndais back, we’re going to get (sophomore guard) Kiana (Johnson) back (and) we’re going to get (redshirt freshman forward) Akyah (Taylor) back,” Bell said. “We’re just going to keep getting stronger as time goes on.”

For Bell, confidence is going to be the biggest thing she needs to work on this season, and the fact that she will be getting a lot of minutes is going to help her.

Goals in mind, Merchant said the Spartans still are shooting for a Big Ten championship and that she has high expectations for the team and has faith that they will pull through.
“We just stay positive,” Merchant said. “We’ll make it happen. We’ll find a way.”